Tried some thinner solder that matched the description Jordan gave me. I think it looks better than the previous attempt. I'd very much appreciate any feedback the wizards have to offer!
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Get a wire brush in there to clean it up but as long as those dark spots are just surface junk, left over flux and what not, that's a really good job there!
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Well it's been one of those weeks,
Monday I managed to get all the old solder sanded off the parts I'll be using and got some cutting done. Unfortunately my always heavy handed self managed to cave in the end of the 7/8" outer barrel piece when I was cutting it, fortunately I know myself well enough that I ordered some spares.
Otherwise work has run late most days, I'll be on the water again tomorrow but Friday I'm going to be on land and plan to head to work early so I can get off early and at the very minimum get the slots cut out and everything mocked up. I'll likely post pictures just to ensure I've got everything laid out properly.
This one's going to come down to the wire folks! Fortunately I already planted the seed in my wife's brain that I'll be heading to the shop sometime this weekend.
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I just tried it, you've got some vice grip hands my dude. Must be from all that time hauling cages out of the ocean. -
I'll post a photo of it tomorrow if I remember, because honestly I'm worried I'm gonna do it again and could use some insight. I dunno if I overtightened the clamping bit on the pipe cutter or what, but its completely crushed inwards on the edge I cut.
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I had a few minutes at the shop dropping off today's harvest, snagged some photos and cut a new 7/8th piece. I think my previous mistake was tightening the pipe cutter too much and not spinning the pipe enough between cuts. You live and you learn I guess, and I'm sure I'll be able to salvage the piece for something.
Tomorrow I hope to get the slots/air transfer and feeds holes done and maybe get started on my feed tube if that goes smoothly.
For now my plan is to start with 1/16" pilot holes, and work my way up to the needed sizes and do a lot of filing. Any advice on drilling brass would be great, but I'll probably practice on some scrap beforehand just to be able to move with some confidence.Comment
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A center punch (automatic or otherwise) is your best friend when it comes to drilling a tube.
Starting small is a good idea, too...you can always take more off but jeez, it sure is way harder to put it back on.Comment
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I'm honestly worried about how soft the 7/8th tube is, I debated doing the old 12 lb mallet and punch chisel to pilot the drilling. Hell even clamping the thing to hit it with the drill press makes me nervous.
That being said I'm glad to hear an expert's suggestion, I'll start out my practice with a punch and hammer and work up to drilling and filing. I've got some scrap to practice on, hopefully I learn to be gentle enough before I run through it all! -
I don't usually clamp the tube when I'm drilling - I know, bad form, but it lets me alter the angle that the drill is hitting the tube at on the fly. When I cut tubing I let the pipe cutter blade do the work - light tension, multiple passes before tightening, etc.
For center punching, I like to use something like this over the traditional punch/hammer combo:
You can adjust the tension on the spring to avoid excessive denting, which is handy on thin tubing.
With either method, the bright side is that any dents caused by the punch generally disappear once you drill the hole.
Honestly, you're doing great! It's all part of the journey... you don't want to see the scrap pile on my bench. 🙂 -
That does sound pretty dang awesome, I'll see if j can't pick one up before I get to work over the next two days.
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Youre cutting it close for time but i have faith
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Well it's not the prettiest work, but I got the slot/air transfer hole and feedhole cut out/drilled today. I was also able to finish up the barrel assembly, for I ended up adding 2", using a cut down piece of the stock barrel inside the 7/8" piece.
At this point I'm hoping to get the hot work done, I just need to figure out what method of keeping the 7/8" pieces together around the assembly.
how so people usually go about ensuring that the feedtube and breech segments stay put within the 7/8 piece? I'm currently debating soldering the breech and 7/8" piece at the back of the assembly, and drilling a hole into the feedtube/7/8" section than tacking them together with a quick dab of solder.
Either way, as promised this one's coming right down the wire. At the end of the day, I think I'd rather take the time to get things done nice, but we will see!Attached FilesComment
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It’s coming out great, Drew.
Making brass markers is like having kids….you have no clue what you’re doing the first time and doesn’t come out right…the second time you THINK you know what you’re doing, but you clearly are just over confident because it refuses to cooperate, and after that you’re too tired to give a s*** about the rest.
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I dont think the purpose of this challenge is to do a "nice" job but when you have a stack of time and money invested into a project, then yeah, you probably wanna prioritize quality over speedComment
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I usually drill a couple small holes at the bottom of my 7/8” where it won’t show and “tack” like you said.Originally posted by Impactfour View Post
Then I will solder at either end as well, attempting to be careful not to use too much and keep it clean.
the hardest part for me (every time) is the soldering the transfer tubeComment
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Well today did not go quite so smooth. That air transfer tube is definitely a PITA. After a couple of attempts at soldering it to the breech/ 7/8th tube it got pretty ugly. I swapped over to trying to attach it to the lower tube and that went better, but I'm afraid the damage is done and I'm gonna need to remake the 7/8th tube that holds the breech.
Naturally I'm out of 7/8th tube, and won't be on land until next week, so that's all she wrote in terms of this build as a contest entrant. I suppose looking at the silver lining I won't be rushing through the last couple of steps so I'll have a nice marker when I'm all done.
Now for a dumb question, I seem to be having better luck with my solder jobs when I go heat->flux->solder rather than applying the flux, then heating things up. For whatever reason when I go flux first I seen to miss the window when it's hold enough to braze, but not so hot that the flux has melted away. Any thoughts?Attached FilesComment
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You need to heat up the entire body first, or the brass will slowly leech heat away from your hot spot. I always heat the whole assembly, making sure to not hit the flux with the torch directly. You will see the flux just start to turn reddish, and thats when you go direct heat on the joint, but not too much heat as you will burn your flux. I also tend to cut small pieces of solder and lay them in the joint where I'm starting. You know your temp is good because you will see the solder melt, then you can literally make it flow down the joint with the torch. -
Also, make sure everything is clean, and hit the tubing with steel wool to get rid of oxidation before applying flux.
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